I don't even have a Tetramorium colony yet, just 3 queens. Yet I feel so bad when the elates just die in the nest. Also, it seems that Tetramorium are newly introduced to my area, because I don't see many colonies, nor sidewalk battles. The colonies I do see probably don't have over 5,000 workers. I also know that Tetramorium doesn't displace any wildlife, and just settles in with the ecosystem. Would it help or harm my ecosystem to release a few, then tens, then hundreds, then thousands of elates of an invasive species?

"God made every kind of wild beasts and every kind of livestock and every kind of creeping things;" (including ants) "and God saw that it was good." Genesis 1:25

I would say if they aren't native to your area then just don't release them. Do it only if you are 100% sure that there are already many colonies arround you and that they are really native to where you live. The elates die whether you release them or not. They will just die after mating with a queen in case they can find one. It's just to make sure that nothing harms your local eco system through such actions.

So it's much better you do some researches beforehand and check weather or not your species is native or not. If native then go nuts and release them but you should be 100% sure.

Doing some proper research is the best way to start an antcolony. After the research you can still go and fetsh a colony from one of your local GAN-Farmers.

i don't see a problem letting to elates go. it is your choice plus the chance of you displacing stuff in the environment is already small because the chance for a queen to survive a nuptial flight is like 1/2000

I would say if they aren't native to your area then just don't release them. Do it only if you are 100% sure that there are already many colonies arround you and that they are really native to where you live. The elates die whether you release them or not. They will just die after mating with a queen in case they can find one. It's just to make sure that nothing harms your local eco system through such actions.

So it's much better you do some researches beforehand and check weather or not your species is native or not. If native then go nuts and release them but you should be 100% sure.

AntsCanada said that Tetramorium is invasive, yet just settles in with the ecosystem and finds their own niche instead of actively destroying wildlife.

"God made every kind of wild beasts and every kind of livestock and every kind of creeping things;" (including ants) "and God saw that it was good." Genesis 1:25